Highlights of Michigan's ESEA Flexibility Request (MS Word)



HIGHLIGHTS OF MICHIGAN’S ESEA FLEXIBILITY REQUEST

College- and Career-Ready EXPECTATIONS FOR ALL STUDENTS

Michigan has adopted rigorous English language arts and mathematics standards now in place in 45 other States and the District of Columbia, with a strong transition plan that includes developing model academic goals, and related professional development, for schools with curricular weaknesses in order to improve alignment with the new college- and career-ready standards.

IMPROVED STATE AND DISTRICT ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT FOR ALL STUDENTS

Index System Based on High Expectations and Multiple Measures: Michigan will use, beginning in the 2013-2014 school year, an accountability scorecard that tracks a school’s performance on State assessments and graduation rates in the all-students category and for each ESEA student subgroup, as well as participation in State assessments and compliance with other requirements.

Ambitious Performance Targets: Michigan will set new performance targets individually for each of its schools using the school’s proficiency rate in the 2011-2012 school year as the baseline and an interim goal of 85 percent proficiency by the 2021-2022 school year.

Renewed Focus on Closing Achievement Gaps: Michigan will identify the schools in the State with the greatest challenges for groups of students as “Focus schools” and require interventions to improve student performance. Michigan will identify schools for focused interventions through a ranking based on the achievement gap between the highest-performing 30 percent and lowest-performing 30 percent of students in a school.

Holding More Schools Accountable for the Achievement of All Students: To capture more schools in the accountability system, Michigan will track performance on State assessments by a school’s bottom 30 percent of students as an additional subgroup. Using this new subgroup, Michigan will include an additional 615 schools in its accountability system that were not captured under No Child Left Behind, increasing from 2,906 schools (83 percent of all schools) included to 3,521 schools (100 percent of all schools).

Aggressive Plan for Turning Around the Lowest-Performing Schools: Michigan will identify the lowest-performing schools in the State as “Priority schools” and ensure that districts implement meaningful interventions in these schools. Michigan will require that its priority schools implement one of the four SIG intervention models. A school district with a Priority school will be required to set aside funding to assist Priority schools in implementing interventions, and a Priority school will be required to set aside funding to support its intervention activities.

Building Capacity for School Improvement: Michigan will provide specialists to assist in intervention design and implementation in the State’s Priority schools, and will provide an improvement toolkit and facilitators to support its Focus schools. Michigan will also make a variety of school improvement tools and resources available to all its districts and schools, including school data and process analyses and improvement plan management.

Increased Accountability for Districts: Michigan will produce accountability scorecards for districts in addition to schools, and will identify districts with the largest achievement gaps as Focus districts. Focus districts will be required to implement activities similar to those required of Focus schools.

Creating and Supporting a Well-Rounded Education: Michigan will encourage schools to provide a well-rounded curriculum by including in its accountability scorecard student performance on State assessments in science, social studies, and writing, in addition to English language arts and mathematics.

SUPPORTING EFFECTIVE INSTruCTION AND LEADERSHIP

Michigan’s recently enacted State law requires the Governor’s Council on Educator Effectiveness to develop a model teacher and principal evaluation and support system for the State. This model system must include four performance ratings, evaluate performance by taking into account student growth as a significant factor, incorporate multiple measures including classroom observations, and provide evaluations at least annually. Under the statute, evaluations must be used to inform decisions regarding the professional development of teachers and administrators as well as promotion and retention.

Districts must adopt the State model or have an equivalent system in place during the 2013-2014 school year, one year ahead of ESEA flexibility requirements. Michigan plans to support its districts in implementing evaluation and support systems by providing a variety of professional development and technical assistance, including an annual statewide educator evaluation conference.

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